5 reasons to get excited for "The Hitman's Bodyguard"

Writer: Casey Chong

Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds in "The Hitman's Bodyguard".

This year's summer movie season is about to come to an end. Still, there is plenty of reason for you to flock into cinemas, namely for "The Hitman's Bodyguard" starring Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson.

Need a reason to convince you on why you should get excited for this upcoming action comedy? Well, we have five and here goes:

1. A high-concept premise

Nothing goes right between the two of them.

Summer movies are huge special effects galore, superheroes, sequels and franchise revivals. Then, there is a movie that comes with a high-concept premise. Sure, "The Hitman's Bodyguard" is generally an action comedy about two mismatched pair (in this case, Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson) who often don't see eye to eye with each other, but the word "mismatched" alone in the realm of the action-comedy genre has long existed since the "48 Hrs." heyday back in the early '80s, and yet, Tom O'Connor's screenplay boasts an interesting premise: What if a bodyguard gets assigned to protect a hitman? Traditionally speaking, a hitman generally doesn't need a protection, but for once, this is a refreshing change of pace that subverts your expectation of a hitman's role usually portrayed in many Hollywood movies. No wonder Tom O'Connor's screenplay was voted as one of Black List's top unproduced scripts back in 2011.

2. Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson

It takes two to tango for these mismatched pair.

There was Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy in "48 Hrs." and to a certain extent, "Another 48 Hrs.", then there's Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin in "Midnight Run". They are some of the best examples that help elevated action comedies into genre classics. The idea of putting Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson together in one movie sounds like a whole lot of fun. Even the trailers and clips that have been shown so far indicate that their chemistry is looking right on track.

3. Gary Oldman plays the antagonist

Gary Oldman plays Vladislav Dukhovich.

If you watch enough Gary Oldman's movies, you know he's always the best when he plays a bad guy. Remember his role as Drexl Spivey in "True Romance"? Or perhaps his corrupted DEA agent role as Stansfield in "The Professional"? Other antagonist roles worth mentioning include "The Fifth Element", "Air Force One" and "The Book Of Eli". In "The Hitman's Bodyguard", it's nice to see him playing the bad guy with this time as a ruthless Eastern European dictator named Vladislav Dukhovich.

Okay, so "The Hitman's Bodyguard" may have nothing to do with the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) or anything Marvel-related. But it's hard to ignore these three particular actors that are assembled here in this movie: Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson and Elodie Yung. Still, it feels like a sort-of Marvel reunion between the three of them with Deadpool, Nick Fury and Élodie Yung, who plays Elektra in Netflix's hit series, "Daredevil".

5. Colourful quips and thrilling action sequences

One of the action scenes in "The Hitman's Bodyguard".

As evident in the trailers so far, looks like audiences will have a field day watching Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson trading quips and profanities against each other. Assuming of course, if the local censorship doesn't get too snip-happy about a number of profanities in this movie. Not to mention all the amount of exciting action and stunt work. Besides, director Patrick Hughes who has already shown his similar genre expertise in "The Expendables 3", is no stranger to delivering elaborate action set-pieces ranging from gunfights to car chases.